Battlefield 3 game update cripples PS3 users

Mike Luttrell, 30th March 2012

A recently released update to the PS3 version of Battlefield 3 was supposed to offer a more enjoyable gaming experience.
Instead, what some players are experiencing is random system crashes and glitches that are forcing them to perform hard resets of their console.

Developer DICE has faced previous problems with the PS3, as a previously released expansion pack also caused some users to experience game-crippling bugs.

The company has not responded to complaints about this latest bungled update, but it is no doubt already working behind-the-scenes to figure out what went wrong.

Battlefield 3 came out last year, and publisher EA heralded it as the company's strongest launch ever. In a matter of days it managed to move 10 million unit sales.

But there has been controversy, specifically for the PS3 version, from day one. EA faced major damage control right out of the gate after it failed to deliver on one of the biggest promises it made to PS3 customers.

The promise was that anyone who purchased the game for PS3 would receive a PS3 version of the classic Battlefield 1943 game. It was supposed to be a way to encourage sales of the game on Sony's platform.

However, when the game was released last October, Battlefield 1943 was nowhere to be found. Well, it turns out that for whatever reason, EA was not able to get that extra goodie packed into the game in time.

In a Twitter message that was only posted because a gamer had to ask about the glaring omission, EA said, "In lieu of 1943 being available on disk for PS3 customers, EA has made all BF3 expansions available early to PS3 customers."

But the decision to make those expansions available to PS3 users first was announced in September, and at that time there was no mention that this would be in place of the Battlefield 1943 bonus. A class-action lawsuit was filed in response to the unfulfilled promise.